Monday morning Dunny had a beautiful colt by Dude. Crystal, who Allie had brought back from getting AIed to NZ Scotch Time, was out at down at the corral, she did not like living with Stinger, who can be a real B. Toni and Kade put panels up along the side of the fence that is semi-imaginary, since Rocky the old Hereford bull thinks wire is for rubbing, and not as a fence. Crystal then pushed the fence in a different spot and got out, so she went in Tulip’s halter breaking pen, and Tulip went back out with the yearlings. Toni had to run into Connell for Jaxsen’s baseball game, so Kade and I caught Crystal and put her back. Kaine got home from baseball practice, so him and Kade went up and helped Anna pack to head to Spokane.
Tuesday morning Kade and Jaxsen went to school, Kaine, Anna and I finished packing for the Spokane Jr Livestock show. We went over to Connell around 10 to pack tack there. Dad went and picked up Toni and Kade. Somehow, they got all of the stuff packed in his vehicle, including Toni’s new puppy Abby. Toni took her over to Whitney to watch while we were gone. Everyone got there around noon, and then we headed for the Spokane Jr Livestock show. Joe drove the mini Pete with the Eby, with lots of kids. We got here around 2 and unloaded steers and tack and got ready for the show. Everyone is always impressed when we roll in with the Pete and the show cattle, we actually look somewhat professional. Haha. It does not look like I took any pics on Tuesday, so here are some random pictures.
Wednesday the press release finally came out that we are the 2021 Ranching Heritage Breeder of the Year and we finally got the share it with the world. Thank you everyone for your kind words, we are honored and humbled to be recognized as the AQHA 2021 ranching heritage breeder of the year by AQHA. We can’t thank everyone that has supported us enough. Our dedication and commitment to the ranching industry will continue full force.
Also on Wednesday, the kids worked on homework after we washed and fed. Wednesday the weather was pretty good, which did not last all week. Normally we make the kids livestock judge, but it is just way too much. It goes all day. And the Connell FFA team would have only had 3 kids not 4, so that wasn’t going to work. It was great to be up at Spokane seeing all of our show friends. Toni calls these trips Showcations. We also have a bunch of family that goes up to Spokane so good to see them as well. Mom sent massive amounts of baked goods, so we had lots of people over to try the muffins and cookies. The baked goods didn’t last long.
Thursday Anna, Kaine, Kade and I got up at 4:15, to be out at 4:30, to get all of our prospects and market steers washed. Toni was out around 5 and her and Kaine started doing beds, since we were done washing and Anna and Kade were blowing. Then Leslie, Ady, Natalie and Julian got out and Kaine and Julian washed their steers and Ady and Natalie did their beds. The heifers showed first, then prospects and then market steers. Kaine was 9th overall and Kade was 10th overall in market steer prospects. Anna was second in her class, so all three made it back to the championship round. It was a deep class. The winning steer came from a really great showperson out of Montana and was a really fancy steer. In Market, Anna, Kade, Julian and Natalie all made it back to the championship round. Anna was 4th, Kade 6th, Natalie 11th and Julian 12th overall. Everyone showed great. Again, the fat steer classes were tough and the kids showed great and placed really well. The Judge was from Oklahoma and made short work of the classes, so he was able to get everyone done by early afternoon.
Friday since we only had to wash the market steers we slept in to 5, if you have a market steer you have to show them in showmanship. We started with juniors, both of our juniors made it back and Julian was Grand Champion and Natalie was Reserve Grand Champion. Timmy, Julian’s steer, is a great purebred Hereford steer, Julian and I decided he was our favorite of all of Julian’s steers. Natalie had a really great clubby steer form Gary Byee, who also showed really well. Ady, Kade and Kaine are all intermediates, Kaine made it back to the championship round, Ady and Kade showed really well too, but their steers didn’t show the best. Anna is our only senior this year, she made it back and was the 5th overall senior showman, and her steer wasn’t that great. Good job kids. Friday night there was a tornado/funnel cloud over the top of us, which we did not know until the next day when Erina sent us the news link. The weather was horrible on Friday night. Luckily we survived it!
Saturday was the sale, the steers always sell last, so we slept in until 6:30. We washed and fed the steers and then went and had breakfast. We also watched the Twins, McCall and McKenna Lovejoy, graduated from college at Oklahoma State on Saturday morning. We are so proud of our girls. Saturday we continued to have crazy weather, it would pour rain, hail, the wind blew, then the sun would come out. It was crazy. Thank you to all our buyers, Scheffelmaier Meats is a great repeat buyer and bought Anna’s steers, the Spokane booster club bought Kaine, Kade and Adys steers, and Fusion Seeds bought Natalie and Julians. Thank you everyone for your support. All of the steers left Saturday, which is not normal, they normally leave on Sunday. Kicker came up and took the tack and prospects home. We helped clean up the barn, packed panels, pulled t-posts, cleaned and picked-up. We were able to pack up and leave about 7:30 Saturday night. We had to stop and feed the kids, so it was about 10:30 when I got home. But it was worth sleeping in our own beds. We were all exhausted and thankful to be home. Luckily the weather had worn itself out as well for the most part. There were some wind gusts, but not too bad of a trip home.
Sunday Ben made us bacon wrapped shrimp, tri tip and Dutch oven potatoes for Mother’s Day, I do not think Toni ended up with any potatoes or tri tip, it was great. We got to sleep in and then do a few ranch chores. Happy Mother’s Day everyone.
KT Ranch 
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